Brazilian Red & White Tarantula (Nhandu Chromatus)
Often touted as the Brazilian Striped Red, The Brazilian Red Tarantula is a bird-eating species that is native to the Brazilian and Paraguayan rainforests. These full-grown species are best known for their strikingly beautiful dark brown carapace, slender legs and beautiful, utricating hairs. While their legs come with black and white stripes, their utricating hairs are dark reddish brown in color.
Like many other Brazilian tarantulas, the Brazilian red too reaches their adulthood within three-four years. They also have a pretty long survival rate of around 11-12 years. If you see a fully grown Brazilian Red tarantula for the first time, you’d be amazed by its massive size. So since they manage to reach a size of around nine to ten inches, it is ideally recommended for experienced tarantula enthusiasts.
These bird eaters tend to be skittish in nature and they can cause major damage, if not handled carefully. Although their venom has mild levels of toxicity, it can cause significant medical damage to your system. So if you plan to pet the Brazilian Red, read the care sheet properly to avoid any inadvertent damage.
Scientific Name
Nhandu chromatus
Geographical distribution
The Brazilian Striped Red is indigenous to the Brazilian rain forests. However, you can also find a couple of these species in some parts of Paraguay.
Preferred natural habitat
These tarantulas thrive best in wet tropical climates with moderate to high rainfall. Ideally, they’d survive in a habitat that has a temperature ranging from 22 degree Celsius to 25 degree Celsius. Their preferred humidity level averages between 76 degrees to 85 degrees. If you ever visit the Brazilian rainforests, you’d find them hiding in the barks and corks of trees.
Preferred food in the wild
Since these tarantulas are pretty aggressive in nature, they practically look for an opportunity to pounce on their prey. Typically, they thrive on a diet of crickets, fruitbirds, mealworms and large cockroaches. Certain full grown adults even devour small rodents.
Personality
The Brazilian Striped Red is an extremely aggressive tarantula. They tend to be skittish, and you’d often find them displaying a violent attitude. Due to this reason, we’d ideally recommend this species to individuals who are completely experienced in handling large tarantulas. If you’re not careful enough, they can severely bite you with their massive fangs. This in turn will lead to fever, acute body pain and persistent swelling.
Feeding as a pet
Since these tarantulas grow pretty fast, you can introduce a steady diet of fruit flies to the small spiderlings. Once they start growing up, start adding big mealworms, grasshoppers and big crickets. The Brazilian Striped Red is a voracious eater and you’d ideally need to feed them at least five big insects every week. Although these species naturally thrive on small rodents, we would avoid you to feed it to them as might eventually hinder their molting process.
Life span both male and female
Both the male and female tarantulas have a lifespan of 11-12 years.
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Pet enclosure type
These spiders spend a large part of their time burrowing in barks of trees or small holes. So if you have a spiderling, try keeping them in a vial that accommodates around three inches of substrate. This will help them burrow faster. Finally, when they reach the sub-adult stage, keep them in a small terrarium that can easily accommodate around four to five inches of substrate.
If you need help buying an enclosure why not check out our enclosure review. Click here for the article.
Pet enclosure habitat layout
For their substrate, use the regular combination of peat moss, sand, dirt and coconut fibre. To put it simply, the substrate should give them ample opportunities for burrowing. Also, as they inhabit wet areas, cages that come with high levels of humidity aren’t ideal for them. So if you’re looking to pet them, do take the necessary precautions.
Mating / reproducing
Although they are usually aggressive, the Brazilian striped red can get pretty nervous while mating. Even the minutest disturbance can make them defensive. So if you’re trying to breed them, try keeping the ambience as calm as possible. Typically, you should wait for at least four to six weeks after the tarantula has moulted. Once it crosses this stage, you can start breeding them.
You begin off by introducing the male to the female by keeping their terrarium right next to each other. Notice if they interact. Finally, after they’ve mated, use long and well-greased tweezers for separating them.
For best mating results, you should switch the temperature between 20 and 22 degree Celsius. The humidity too should be around 65 to 70%. Once they begin mating, you can tweak the temperature and humidity for their comfort.
The Brazilian red stripe usually makes her cocoon around 2-4 months after mating. When the cocoon is ready, separate it from the female after four weeks. Make it a point to store her eggs in an incubator under a temperature of 26 to 29 degree Celsius and a humidity level of 80 to 90%.
Development rate
These tarantulas grow pretty fast. Within ten years of captivity, they can reach a size of five to six inches.
